Najib Feel-good factor fizzling out call for election now ” Winners take all loser to sell salt fish

Feel-good factor fizzling out ” If you CAN’T take the heat, get out of the kitchen ” So scared that, despite declaring and bragging that it is a democracy, it hits out at genuine pro-democracy civil society organisations with much-prouder records than the regime has ever had.Over the past few Najib has squandered the opportunity to position himself as the natural party of governance beset by corruption and misgovernance, had ceded the space. Into the vacuum

Well, perhaps now is a good time to remind ourselves – and those who are still unsure – why this regime is, indeed, feeling desperate. First, in the March 2008 elections, it lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament and also saw five states (until Perak was ‘recaptured’ under dubious circumstances) and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur fall to the Pakatan coalition.

Now, that was a bitter pill to swallow. And, certainly, there was hell to pay, as the then-Prime Minister, (Tun) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (right), soon found out. Indeed, about a year later, he was not so much shown the door as he was virtually booted out by the same men and women who, after the virtual landslide victory for BN in 2004, had seen Pak Lah as their saviour.

With the possible exception of that wily old fox, Dr Mahathir, of course. Dr M was always rather lukewarm towards Pak Lah as PM and, by the end of Pak Lah’s short tenure, was already laying into him, blaming him for virtually everything that had gone wrong with BN and UMNO.

Work cut out for him

So, when Najib was handed the post of Prime Minister in 2009, he really had his work cut out for him. He had inherited a coalition that was very much lopsided in nature, with a virtually decimated Gerakan and MIC limping badly, and an MCA that, equally, was having its fair share of internal problems.

And, of course, within his own party, UMNO, the numerous warlords needed appeasing, evidently led by, you guessed it, that old doctor who always seems to be in the house.

Top of the wish list for virtually all of these interested parties within UMNO and the BN was – is – a return to the good ol’ days of having a two-thirds (or above) majority in the Dewan.

Najib knows that. He knows that anything less will, most likely, see his neck on the chopping block. Many believe that he’s been putting off the GE or, indeed, telling us all exactly when it will be held, precisely because he has thus far not received one single assurance, from inside or outside the party, that Barisan Nasional will get back the two-thirds majority.

Next, of course, is the intense political rivalry and the ambitions, especially within UMNO. It’s widely believed that Najib and his Deputy both covet the top post. Number two, Muhyiddin (left), now, apparently, has that old doctor and party reactionaries and conservatives backing him and a narrow ‘I-am-a-Malay-first’ agenda.

Again, the age-old question of dynasty comes into play, with the old doctor wanting to see his son follow in his footsteps and seeing Muhyiddin as the perfect patsy to allow him to do so. So, with the old man, number two and the chosen son waiting impatiently to nudge him off the edge, the stakes are, indeed, very high for Najib.

Hence the need to be janus-faced, the need for hypocrisy. That is, the need to talk of 1Malaysia and Transformation, on the one hand, to appeal to a more aware, worldly-wise and growing Malaysian middle class.

And, on the other, to play on old, racist sentiments, warning the Malays, as he did on Malaysia Day, that “the 13th general election is not an ordinary election. Instead, it will determine the survival of the Malays.”

Yet again, revealing the desperation. Such desperation is also noticeable among the also-rans, the no-hopers, in the BN. Which is why we see the MCA, evidently devoid of anything of substance, reduced to a father and son act of… desperation.

The senior Chua Soi Lek (right), like a broken record, seems totally obsessed with two things

Chua, Jr. we know that all those figures painted by both sidea are for election gambits; we all will only believe in them when the implementation is done. In spite of all the highest prices paid by our Gomen; how come you NEVER comment about or dare to ask about them? Only A.. H.. with such brain tries hard to BLUFF the average Malaysians with half truths and Lies ALL THE TIME! We are sure you gonna stand in at least a semi-urban area and your voters will teach what is common sense and what is spinning which should be left to your Boss as he is being associated as an uncouth character and a shyster which will surely and steadily ooze into you very soon. We hope that with all your intellectual capacity, you will stand in an urban area so the well informed Malaysians will judge you on your performance! Frankly speaking, with this kind of shallow thinking, I do not know how he manage to PASS from the Accountancy School and QUALIFIED to be called a Datuk. He can be called a Datuk when he got a grandchild and not through CONTRIBUTION to the society/country. if you don’t believe, let Pakatan show you how it is done. I don’t expect you to understand these things as they are very complicated to people like you. So please step aside and let the professionals in PKR show you. How are you going to understand if the talam case also you tak faham langsung? Please do what you’re good at – acting in films that are ……in nature. Coming from someone who has no clue about the Talam issue? Maybe he should take a closer look at BN’s budget – it is full of short term gains rather a long term investment. Talk about candies for the Rakyat!

– well, actually three, but this is a family-oriented column – the DAP and hudud. Day in and day out, his favourite newspaper (The Star), the one that his party owns, repeats his rants about voting for the DAP and getting parts of your anatomy chopped off as a consequence.

His son, on the other hand, evidently has a fixation for the Selangor Menteri Besar when, perhaps, as Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based industries Minister, he could serve us better by looking more into the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) scandal.

Answers still not forthcoming

Speaking of scandals, the financial mismanagement ones really are the bugbears increasing the desperation of the regime. There are, of course, so many that have not been resolved, where answers are still forthcoming.

But, straight off the top of our heads, we can think of at least two – the NFC cows, cars and condos scandal and the more expensive, possibly more damaging, Scorpene submarines scandal.

Many times previously, the regime has depended on a compliant, self-censoring mainstream media and the rakyat collectively having a short memory to, somehow, minimise, even eliminate, the implications of these misappropriation of public funds.

This time around, however, this strategy doesn’t appear to have succeeded. Some argue that it’s because of the existence of the alternative Internet news media and social media.

Others credit the work of resilient whistleblowers, such as PKR’s Rafizi Ramli (left), and the regime’s current punching bag, SUARAM, for bringing these alleged abuses out into the open.

While all this may be true, like a small group of film students at my university, a group with a warped sense of humour, I think it’s the imagery that has made these two scandals stick in our minds.

The imagery, that is, of cows living in condos and driving to the farm in luxury cars. The imagery also of submarines that can’t dive.

Whatever it may be, these ‘irritants’, these ‘noises’ are extremely difficult for the regime to shut off, leading to much consternation and increasing desperation.

So, the regime’s ‘strategic team’ – what, I think, in the days of the Cold War and even Watergate they called the ‘dirty tricks department’ – is called up. They, in turn, dig not so deep into their mouldy bag of tricks and come up with what they believe will scare the living daylights out of all us – especially those of us who have no access to the outside world, beyond that provided by newspapers like Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian and TV stations like the Media Prima quartet of TV3, NTV7, TV8 and TV9 and that dinosaur, RTM.

And, of course, although many of us would probably have never bumped into a Jew in our lives, most likely won’t, and wouldn’t know that we had done so even if we did, the Jewish bogey is pulled out of the bag. I did say it was a mouldy old bag, didn’t I?

Okay, so it’s quite obvious that I don’t buy all that Jewish conspiracy nonsense. But I’ll share a little secret with you, strategic team: even my 86 year-old mother down South doesn’t believe you.

She, too, thinks that you’re getting extremely desperate and that it’s making you act like a bunch of nincompoops. You must forgive my mother; she’s old school, indeed a retired school teacher, and tends to use more halus words instead of ‘moron’ and ‘bangang’.

No longer works now

But, the point here, I guess, is that there’s a pretty unoriginal team of spinners at work here. What may have worked 20, even 10, years ago no longer works now. Even on the ‘ignorant masses’ in the hinterland.

If it did, March 2008, despite all the reported fraud taking place – all the phantom voters, the dead 100-plus year-olds rising up from their graves just to vote – would not have happened. If it did, the makciks and pakciks would not have been there, marching on the streets of KL, asking for clean and fair elections.

If it did, the 13th general elections would have been announced – and possibly held – ages ago. If it did, such desperation on the part of the regime would no longer be necessary.

disrespects legislature, says PKR veep Surendran the non- non-presence of the entire cabinet and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak during opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s 2013 Budget reply is a gross disrespect to the Dewan Rakyat, as this is a time-honoured parliamentary convention. Najib’s refusal to debate Anwar either inside or outside the parliament, despite repeated challenges, indicates Najib does not have the confidence to face Anwar in a one on one intelligent discussion on national matters. He has shown himself to be only capable of reading out from prepared texts to unfairly criticise and vilify the opposition. Most of the other BN ministers too are also just as dumb as Najib. The only time they are in their element is when it comes to making vulgar remarks and jokes. With their crooked minds and limited intellect, Najib and most of the other BN ministers would be hard pressed and mentally challenged to say anything sensible to rebut anything Anwar says during a debate. Their intellect and speciality when it comes to reBUTTing anything is confined to the ‘BUTT’ part, be it Saiful’s or Altantuya’s butt(as alleged by Bala in the case of Najib) or the butt show put up by the Umno sponsored men in front of Ambiga’s house.Spot on Pemerhati! What we have (in Mahathir’s words) is a ‘half-past six cabinet’. These are moral and intellectual pygmies masquerading as leaders. Najib will go down in history as the first ‘Prime Minister’ ever to have his picture adjacent to a butt. Given his ‘Bala-documented’ preference for posteriors, that act should be as symbolic and iconic as the Iwo Jima sculpture is to Americans.

And it is clear that those politically-owned media unethically concocting and sensationalising these allegations would not have dared to make such allegations had they not been owned and controlled by their BN political masters.

Najib is a coward. He is not PM material and we should get rid of him soonest possible.it is too bad that PM had no guts to face Anwar in parliament, guess thus must be part of his debate is not our culture. as Minister of finance, he should be there to listen to the opposition leader of the parliament. It shows he has not guts and I am being polite here

Why is Najib using this Chua Jr to defend his budget instead of turning up in Parliament to reply to the Opposition leader? Why is Chua Snr allowing his young boy to be the whipping boy? Is this the role of MCA? Father and son wants to be champions for UMNO/BN. Both good for nothing in terms of building better Malaysia. Nothing beats your sheer stupidity though, Porn Star Jr.

please note that you baby porn star, better go back the basic of accountancy. This time just pay Your attention instead of dreaming of getting rich like your elder porn star.have been given all the space in MKini for your views and I believe nothing has been edited to twist your words. Is it too much to ask you, as director of The Star to do the same for the PR views – also without any twist. Theit can be easily done by removing all those BN parasite within the public sector and civil service, starting with you, a useless deputy minister and those 2 special convoy for high commission, Ong Ka Ting & Samyvellu to China & India respectively!n it will show that you are a man – prepared to face the truth. Is that too much to ask ? Chua Jr., why you talk like not so smart one,ah? Like one comment said, you cut corruption, you got more money to spend! BN also can do that but you fellows got no ………. Even if you give this country to simpletons like us who love this country, we also can turn around the economy of this country. The idea is like JFK famous line: Ask not what the country can do for you but ask what you can do for the country! In BN’s case, it has always been take what you can until the country sinks!

There was not only a no-show by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak at the opposition leader’s response in Parliament yesterday to the Budget address, there was also the absence of upscale members of his ministerial cohort to contend with.Internationally, Najib has earned as a false democrat sharing the same club with Milosevic and Mubarak. At home, he is a celebrity who does not stick to his words. His songs, Malaysia the world’s best democracy state, Rakyat didahulukan have all died in rhythm. He sacrileges the sanctity of mosque by taking oath that he knows nothing about the murdering of a Mongolian beauty by his bodyguards. His UMNO warlord has ridiculed him as a general without soldiers. Born with a silver spoon, he is known to get everything on silver platter. He is shy, timid and deficient when challenged to a debate. The remotest of all he is never a fighter. He only wants the premiership to be given on a silver platter.and his supporters have no marbles to face the opposition in Parliament! They only dare to speak outside the arena when the main stream media “whore-shipped” them like leaders. They can only answer planted questions from the supporters. our PM is IRRESPONSIBLE. And he is campaigning to ask us to give him another 5 years to rule. 5 years for what ??? 5 more years to rape our couintry and to plunder all its resources. And this irresponsible creature of a man who has no sense of love for women’s rights, no concern for other citizens. he will continue to bluff and cheat his way if we voted him in GE13. Remember, he is already a proven liar, thats why they called him Mr. Flip Flop. If PM Najib can only bark, then the voters should ditch him and choose a better leader to run the Finance Ministry.Let sleeping dogs lie, voters should move on and pick some one else. It is a hsitoric event where the Finance Minister was not present in Parliament to answer questions. Obama and Cameron will just laugh; and Malaysia will become a laughing stock of the world.Should President Obama refuse to debate with rival Romney, he would be kicked out by the voters. It is disgraceful that a Finance Minister dared not come to Parliament to answer queries. Even Dato Nazri would be ashamed and would be at a loss to defend his boss! Even Khairy would fall off a chair when he came to know that the Finance Minister was afraid to be questioned by the Opposition on his Budget 2013! The duty of answering the questions on teh Budget falls on the Finance Minister. After all , it is taxpayers’ money he is spending, not UMNO’s . Can you find any Finance Minister running away from queries .

the BN’s Budget as an example, the Operating Expenditure has increased to RM201.9 billion, accounting for 80 per cent of the total expenditure, and among them, 20.8 per cent is allocated for subsidies.

The government’s subsidies have amounted to RM42 billion this year, exceeding the estimated amount by 27 per cent, or RM9 billion. The total subsidy in 2007 was only RM10 billion, which means that political confrontation has increased subsidies by four times.

Subsidies could anesthetise the people’s nerves and when subsidies are forced to be terminated, the people might not be able to stand stably.

In addition, the emoluments for civil servants have also been increased from RM52 billion in 2012 to RM58.6 billion next year, accounting for 29 per cent of the total Operating Expenditure. Since the government has shelved the Exit Policy to deal with problematic, undisciplined and underperforming civil servants, the number of civil servants has kept increasing, so does the emolument expenditure.

The Pakatan Rakyat’s alternative budget also advocates pay rise for civil servants, such as increasing the salaries of police officers by 15 per cent, providing a special allowance of RM500 for teachers and increasing the salaries of civil servants. The additional emolument expenditure is RM4.4 billion. However, it requires an additional RM5.1 billion based on the calculation of MCA President Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek. Najib’s refusal to debate Anwar either inside or outside the parliament, despite repeated challenges, indicates Najib does not have the confidence to face Anwar in a one on one intelligent discussion on national matters. He has shown himself to be only capable of reading out from prepared texts to unfairly criticise and vilify the opposition. Most of the other BN ministers too are also just as dumb as Najib. The only time they are in their element is when it comes to making vulgar remarks and jokes. With their crooked minds and limited intellect, Najib and most of the other BN ministers would be hard pressed and mentally challenged to say anything sensible to rebut anything Anwar says during a debate. Their intellect and speciality when it comes to reBUTTing anything is confined to the ‘BUTT’ part, be it Saiful’s or Altantuya’s butt(as alleged by Bala in the case of Najib) or the butt show put up by the Umno sponsored men in front of Ambiga’s house.

Regardless of whether it is the BN or the Pakatan Rakyat, there is a surge in the Operating Expenditure. However, no one tells the people how to improve productivity and open up new revenue resources to offset the increased expenditures.

It seems impossible to remove the subsidy system, while the administrative team has been continuously expanding. It is afraid that the debt might touch the national debt ceiling of 55 per cent. The national debt has increased from last year’s RM456.1 billion to the current RM502.4 billion, In other words, each person is averagely bearing RM18,000 of debt.

The government should tell the people how many oil resources are left and how long could they support our expenses. When would the country become a net oil importer and would it be in 2017, as predicted by the International Energy Agency?

The government should make public the national accounts to clearly show the people the country’s financial situation, instead of keep pretending that everything is going well, telling the people that there is no big deal and distributing money.

If the financial direction and management are not changed today, I am afraid that Malaysians might one day walk on streets to protest against financial austerity. Such a scenario is horrible